City Youngsters Urged To Sign New Deals

21 October 2011 12:20

Coventry City manager Andy Thorn has urged the likes of Gael Bigirimana, Conor Thomas and Cyrus Christie (pictured below) to sign new deals.

Newcastle and Stoke were reported earlier in the week as being interested in Christie and scouts from a number of Premier League clubs have been watching City players in recent matches.

Speaking to the CT, City boss Andy Thorn said: “That sort of speculation is inevitable but we need to keep those players at this club.

"I’m aware of that, the chairman’s aware of that so it’s important they get them tied down.

“They’ve all been offered new deals and we’re close to getting them sorted.

"The i’s are being dotted and the t’s are being crossed and I’ve told them that they should get this done and out of the way so that they can concentrate on their football.

“They should stay and develop here, whatever their agent might be telling them, and they’re all bright lads so I hope they will take that on board.

“If a player wants to listen to his agent about his career then I have a problem with that player.

"If he doesn’t know what he wants to do, he’s better off not being here; if he doesn’t realise that an agent only wants him to move on so he can get more money for himself then he’s got to be a bit stupid.

“You can’t get away from agents – they’re part and parcel of the game – but they’ve gone from being people who try to get the best deal for their clients to people who tell them what they should be doing.

“ Use agents to negotiate terms for you – that’s fine – but don’t listen to them about your career.

"It’s your career and if it goes wrong and you disappear I promise you that they won’t be ringing you up every ten minutes – they won’t be there.

I’ve seen so many young boys with potential who have listened to agents and gone to another club and five years later they’re in non-League football.

"That’s not the way to go and it’s important they realise that.

“I’m not just plucking that out of the air; it happened to me when I was younger so I know what I’m talking about.

“I listened to an agent when I moved from Wimbledon after the Cup final and went to Newcastle.

"A year later I was back at Crystal Palace. “It made me more money but in hindsight – which is a wonderful thing – it was too early; I wasn’t ready to move to a big club like that.

“I tell my young players ‘get your head down, learn your trade and then when the time is right you can leave’ – everybody does eventually if they’re good enough.”